By Myself
by Bradiculous
Summary: After a tragic event occurs in Yamaku, An apathetic student from 3-3 will show that there's more to him than he leads his fellow students to believe.
1. The Event

I drift through the starry sky without a care in the world. I close my eyes and a small, almost unnoticeable smile forms on my face. For the first time I finally feel at peace. I open them and see the festivities below me. The ground below seems just as far away as the stars as I see people roughly the size of gnats wandering about, playing games and eating food and spending time with their friends. I feel a tinge of happiness for the people on Earth just as I feel just as content flying above them. In my own plane of reality living my own way of life the way I want to live it. By myself.

Away from the troubles of all the incessant droning of Yamaku High School pressuring me to become a proper functioning member of whatever society expects of me. All of the seemingly endless responsibilities that will decide the fate of my future. That will decide whether I will have a successful life like a well paying job, a beautiful wife and the monotony of an average individuals life. Not really troublesome I suppose. Just monotonous and tedious. Then there are the friends that I would otherwise have to be required to keep happy and content just so I can have the opportunity to see them and spend time with them before I inevitably never see them again. Either due to their path that leads their monotonous life responsibilities. Something will drift my acquaintances apart from me.

But all of that doesn't matter anymore. It's just me now, alone with only the company of the sky. The noise of the festival below soft and barely audible growing further distinct the more I drift away.  
A perfect end to a perfect day.

I close my eyes for the last time as the sky and the wind continue to carry me further and further away. Away from my troubles. Away from Yamaku. Away from my condition.

Further away into nothing.

An unbearably unwelcome rapping at my door startles me awake from my heavenly slumber. I groan to myself and wrap the pillow around my head. Out of curiosity I glance at my clock to get a good estimate of how much longer I can sleep in. Eleven o' clock on the dot.

I sigh and mutter in a hushed tone, "It's not even noon yet." I roll over and stare at the door dreading another knock that will wake the dead and sure enough not a moment later a deafening bang at my door invades my ears. I know they're going to give up eventually but I don't know what I'd do if I hear that banging one more time. I muster what energy I have to slide out of my bed and stand up. I trudge up to the door, eyes struggling to stay open and reach for the handle to begrudgingly creak it open.

"Who is it?" My words slur as I survey the hallway. I hear the familiar sarcastic tone of a certain paraplegic I've come to associate myself with.

"Down here, lazy-ass." I don't glance down at first but after hearing that stinging remark I notice Hibiki in my peripherals donning the school uniform on a Sunday for some reason. He grips onto his wheelchair wheels as he further degrades me, "C'mon man, are you seriously THAT lazy that you'd sleep in on the day of the big festival." I look down, mildly intrigued. He flares his button nose, "And I'm not even that fucking short in this chair! C'mon get dressed already, Hideki. You said you'd hang out with me during this thing and it's already almost noon for Christ's sake!"

I let out a small whimper, "I did promise that, didn't I?" He makes a smartass gesture that unnecessarily answered my rhetorical question, "Alright give me about fifteen minutes to get ready ok, small fry? I'll meet you outside the dorm." He ignores my childish name-calling and simply nods and pushes himself toward the elevator. I close my door and commence my morning ritual of bathing, grooming, dressing myself and downing enough pills to drop an elephant.

Hibiki is seated outside staring at all the fun people are having. Festivals and any other kind of big event like this is really not my kind of thing. No one could possibly imagine what I would give to go back to my room. Or to the library. Or anywhere where there isn't anybody within at least a twenty to thirty foot radius of me. But this really means a lot to the guy. Maybe not the festival itself but I mean getting to hang out with me. Excuse me if I seemed like I was tooting my own horn, it's nothing like that. What I mean is that we're not really the most popular or the most active or the most social or the most anything at all kinda guys on campus. We both made plenty of acquaintances in class, but never long term friends. It was just a happy coincidence that we share the same kind of social problem. We met last year in class 2-3 and we just happened to get grouped together in a two man project. One conversation led to another and we became best friends for life with whatever that entails.

I eventually walk up behind Hibiki and give him a playful slap on the shoulder, "Quit staring, short stack, it looks weird."

Hibiki, once again, ignores my quip at his height and asks me, "So where do you wanna go first, man?"

I shrug and start pushing him into the foray of snack stands, "I dunno about you but I need some breakfast?"

"It's lunch, idiot. I don't know if you know this but breakfast is served usually in the morning." Hibiki snorts

I look down at my watch. 11:28, "It IS still morning, Hibiki." I roll my eyes, "Breakfast is what you make of it, even if it's lunch food. Remember that." A smug expression creeps on my face, "Stick with me kid and you'll be rolling down easy street." We both exchange laughs as we enjoy the merriment of the day.

The, I'll admit, beautiful day turned to a beautiful night as Hibiki and I continue to peruse the fairgrounds. Hibiki's smile has been locked like that all day as we spent what time we had enjoying unhealthy fried festival cuisine and played cheap (and obviously rigged) booth games. I'm glad Hibiki enjoyed himself today and I'll be even more glad when I get back to my dorm and plop myself back down in my bed for the rest of the night. I rest on the staircase leading to the main building to rest with Hibiki next to me. Primo spots for the scheduled fireworks

Hibiki leans back and sets his arms on the armrests, "Thanks for coming out, man. This woulda sucked if it weren't for you." He laughs, "Even if I did have to pry your lazy ass away from your bed." 

I smirk, "Well I'll just have to be more resilient next year I guess, huh?"

"You're such an asshole, Hideki." He chortles. We both lean back and wait in silence for the fireworks when suddenly a mind-curdling scream comes from behind us.

We both shoot our gazes backward as a crowd of students crowd around whatever triggered the banshee screech. Curiosity got the best of me as I get up to go join the mob. I look back at Hibiki knowing I have no time to push him up the handicap ramp before more people show up and congest whatever it is further, "I'm gonna go check it out, I'll be right back, ok?" Hibiki nods as I advance toward the crowd.

I'm on the outer edge of the sea of people. This kind of contact makes me very uncomfortable but my curiosity beats my claustrophobia. At least in this case. I shove myself in between two students and begin my descent into the crowd. As I'm digging through every one I can hear murmurs and whatnot that only spike my curiosity further.

"What's going on?"

"I can't believe he did that."

"Are you serious? No way. He's crazy."

I'm almost completely through. I peek my head over two smaller schoolmates and I couldn't believe my eyes. There laying bloody and broken on the sidewalk was the body of my classmate from 3-3. Mutou's class.

It's Hisao Nakai.


	2. Concern

My eyes widen as I stare at the mess in front of me, "That's the new kid." I mutter to myself for confirmation, "I can't believe..." I stop myself for a moment. If only for a moment before I feel an unnecessary tinge to complete the thought out loud, "I can't believe he jumped."

"Someone call an ambulance" Someone screams

"Don't let the kids see!" Another yells

For some odd reason, I can't really make myself turn away from Hisao. It's like some intangible force is making me watch it even though I have no earthly desire to look anymore. It's certainly a way to go. Jumping off of the school roof like that. I wonder if he just couldn't take his new life. His new life as a cripple. The stress must have been too much for him to handle. I know it's stressful to a lot of people, including me. Having to leave your life in the metaphorical hands of all the endless pill bottles or surgeries or whatever else and all for just a few more years of doing the same thing day in and day out. Especially considering the really unlucky ones who still won't live a full life even after all the treatments and medication. I know a lot of kids here might not make it past thirty, but they will certainly try. In a way, I kind of envy that kind of optimism.

A firm hand grasps my shoulder and breaks me out of my train of though. I turn to see a police officer motioning me away from the scene. I look around to notice that the crowd of people has more or less dispersed as police officers begin roping off the scene. "_How long had I been lost in thought?"_ I wonder. I nod to the officer and back away. As I make my way back to Hibiki, an ambulance begins carting off Hisao's corpse. I guess, albeit in a morbid sense of thinking, I also envy the dead. I mean, all of Hisao's problems are behind him now. He doesn't have to worry about anything anymore.

I notice Hibiki still at the base of the stairs waving me down. I run up to him, trying to dodge all of the people in my way. Despite the festival looking forcefully shut down there's still an uncomfortable amount of people in this part of the schoolyard.

"I suppose you heard what happened, huh?" I asked. I didn't get an answer but the awkward silence seems to have answered my question.

After a moment, Hibiki breaks the silence, "Did you get a good look?"

I grimace and give a slight nod, "Yeah, I did." I let out a small chuckle to hopefully lighten the mood, "Well.. ah." I rub the back of my neck. Man, there's nothing I'd like better than to get back into my dorm and get away from all this commotion.

Hibiki gave me a worried look, "Are you ok, man?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine, It's no big deal" I reassure him, "Next year though I'm definitely sleeping in."

Hibiki looked at me with a quizzical look and shrugged, "Alright man, whatever you say."We head back to the dorms together in silence as the area around us still seem in utter chaos. Students keep trying to get a good look at the remains that are still on the sidewalk. Police Officers and Medical Personnel talk behind the yellow tape possibly about the cause of Hisao's death like it's some big mystery. This seems like it's straight out of some stupid crime movie. I mean what do they think happened? Someone pushed him?

I notice in my peripheral vision that Hibiki kept sneaking glances as we made our way back to our dorms. Was it something I said? Why does he keep looking at me? I don't want to ask as not to seem weird, but I'm curious. Maybe he's wondering if I might have been lying when I said I was alright, but I really am fine though. A little shaken sure but more or less I'm fine. Maybe that's why Hibiki looks so worried. I don't know, maybe it's something completely different. I decide not to press the issue.

Hibiki and I eventually make it back to the dorms. The elevator is located directly to the right as we enter the building and I take the opportunity to rush and press the button as soon as I can in a feign hope that the elevator will arrive sooner than if I hadn't rushed. Students are crowded in the dorm's lobby chattering away about what happened. All of the overlapping buzz of tonight is driving me mental. I just want to crawl into my bed and sleep away the oncoming buzz for weeks to come about tonight. That's a real drawback to living in a small town. Everyone is always so excited about events like this.

The elevator finally arrives and Hibiki, me and a few others enter the elevator. Save for the two adolescents behind me we all ride in complete silence it starts up the building. My stop was the second on the line.

I step out and wave to to Hibiki "I'll see you tomorrow, Short-round." I say, not really with the intent purpose to pick on him but to reassure him that I'm fine.

"Yeah." My attempt proved to be in vain as he looks down and as the doors begin to close he looks at me with worry in his eyes, "See you tomorrow, Hideki."

I'm a little confused. What's wrong with him? What do I have to do to prove that I'm alright? I try to shake these questions from my head but they keep coming back like a bad habit. I suppose I will ask about it tomorrow. In the meantime I make my way back to my room, trying my best to avoid the gossipers littering the hallway. I finally reach my room and make my way inside. Finally, sanctuary from this terrible night.

I slip off my shoes and flip off the light. I don't really bother taking off my dirty clothes as I plop into bed. As I lay there and stare at my ceiling, the events of today start replaying in my head. I'm really curious as to why Hibiki started acting that way. I know he's just concerned but I really am fine. Or maybe that's what he's concerned about. Maybe I shouldn't be fine after what I've seen. Maybe it's really fucked up to be fine after seeing something like that.

I rub my eyes and roll over, "Whatever," I mutter into my pillow, "Maybe he won't be so concerned tomorrow after a night's sleep."

My final thought before letting myself drift off was that of Hisao. I may not have barely known him but I feel sorry for him. Everything wrong in his life climaxing in one desperate action to relieve his troubles forever. I'll give him one thing though.

It's certainly an easy way to go.


End file.
